Final thoughts on Mark 15:23
Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink, but He did not take it. NKJV
A great truth is found in the fact that our Savior refused the wine mingled with myrrh. From eternity, God the Son looked at the appointed time when He would descend from the heights of heaven to the utmost depths of human misery. With full faculties, He willingly faced all the agonies which our redemption would require and did not hesitate one iota. He solemnly determined that to offer a sufficient substitutionary sacrifice, He must experience the full experience of suffering for our sins from the throne of highest glory to the cross of deepest woe. This wine mingled with myrrh, with its pain-relieving properties, would have prevented Him from experiencing the limits of human misery, therefore He refused it. He would not stop short of all he had undertaken to suffer for us.
How many of us have pined for relief from our grief which would have been injurious to us? Did you never pray for a discharge from trials or sufferings with a stubborn and willful eagerness? Divine providence has taken from you the desire of your heart with a stroke. If it had been said to you, “If you desire it, that loved one of yours shall live, but God will be dishonored,” could you have put away the temptation, and said, “Your will be done”? Yet how sweet to be able to say, “My Lord, even if I can see no other reasons why I should suffer, yet if I can honor You more by suffering, and if the loss of all my earthly possessions will bring You glory, then let it be so. I will refuse the comfort, if it comes in the way of Your honor.”
O that we thus walked more in the footsteps of our Lord, cheerfully enduring trial for His sake, promptly and willingly putting away the thought of self and comfort when it would interfere with our finishing the work which He has given us to do. Great grace is needed, but great grace is provided. Charles H. Spurgeon
Bethel Bible Church Hawaii 